Tag: tia kelly

On March 25th, I’m going to be in Collegeville, PA (about an hour NW of Philadelphia) with Tia Kelly, Jacinta Howard and Lily Java for a book signing, readings by the authors and panel discussion, moderated by Ashley Coleman, author of ‘Love on Purpose’. Our discussion theme is a juicy one: “Romance, Realism & Portrayal of African American Women in Popular Fiction”. Not only do my fellow panelists happen to be some of my favorite indie authors, the topic is one I love to talk about with anyone who’s willing to listen or participate. Over the past couple of years as I’ve grown into my writing voice a little bit, I realized something. I enjoy writing stories of love, stories that are “real” and most all, stories about women who misbehave. No meek heroines for me; or if they are meek, I love writing about how they mess up, make mistakes and often wreak havoc in their lives as well as others’.

So when my fellow authors and I are together in Collegeville, I imagine what I’ll want to talk about is how romance, even though based on a simple formula, can be one of the more complex genres to write, if you want the love to feel real. I imagine I’ll also want to talk, and hear about whether realism is something people value in romance, or whether the fantasy is the hook for most readers. And finally, I definitely want to talk about how much juice I get from writing about women, specifically women of color who “misbehave”. Some of them are like Lorna, in one of my featured books, ‘The Fall’, a woman determined to blaze her own trail, arrogant, self-righteous and downright rude, and the hell with people who don’t like it. And some of them are like Zora in my other featured book for the event, ‘Young, Rich & Black’ who is determined to decide for herself who she’s going to be, even if that person is at odds with who everyone else says she should be. But I won’t get into it too much right now, because that’ll leave nothing for Saturday March 25th at the Towne Book Center Wine Bar and Café.

If you’re in the neighborhood, or can make it there, consider joining us, and joining in on the conversation. Register for the book signing and discussion free here, and/or for the wine tasting as well, for a small fee!

About Baby Love:The son of an NBA legend, Trent Scott was born a catch and groomed since birth to know it. Little fazes him, including the mystery woman that appears on his doorstep with a baby in tow… even when she claims Trent is the father before disappearing. Until he can prove otherwise and find the delusional woman, he’s stuck caring for a kid he knows can’t be his… or is it?

Brandi Avery is ready to start the next chapter of her life. After coming to the rescue of a frazzled (and extremely attractive) stranger with an adorable (yet obviously upset) baby, she can’t help but fall for Trent Scott… which wouldn’t be so bad if she could convince him to feel the same way about her.

Pulling the door open, he saw a gorgeous woman and immediately thought of Lupita Nyong’o.

“About damn time!” She sounded nothing like the graceful actress.

Trent’s brow raised a fraction, but he didn’t say a word.

“Do you mind?” she asked, setting a foot inside his house.

She cut her eyes at him before glancing at her watch. That was when Trent saw the stroller behind her. Ms. Uninvited set an infant carrier on the ground between them after stepping across the threshold.

“How did you get past the gate?”

“It was open when I got here.”

Trent peered around her because he knew he closed it.

“Earlier when the ambulance was here.”

“Ambulance?”

The woman just shrugged.

“Do I know you?”

“You don’t remember me?” Her angry scowl became masked with hurt.

“Why should I?”

“It’s been just over a year, but not that much has changed other than the child we share together.”

And don’t forget, you can MEET TIA KELLY at ‘Wine with Writers’ on November 14th at 3 PM in Washington DC where she will be chatting with me, Xyla Turner and you, the readers. Ask Tia in person about her work, have a chance to buy her new release, ‘Love Is’, receive a free swag bag and door prizes, AND discuss the theme: ‘Romance, Realism & Portrayal of African American Women in Modern Popular Fiction’. Tickets to the event are available HERE now!

The son of an NBA legend, Trent Scott was born a catch and groomed since birth to know it. Little fazes him, including the mystery woman that appears on his doorstep with a baby in tow… even when she claims Trent is the father before disappearing. Until he can prove otherwise and find the delusional woman, he’s stuck caring for a kid he knows can’t be his… or is it?

Brandi Avery is ready to start the next chapter of her life. After coming to the rescue of a frazzled (and extremely attractive) stranger with an adorable (yet obviously upset) baby, she can’t help but fall for Trent Scott… which wouldn’t be so bad if she could convince him to feel the same way about her.

Pulling the door open, he saw a gorgeous woman and immediately thought of Lupita Nyong’o.

“About damn time!” She sounded nothing like the graceful actress.

Trent’s brow raised a fraction, but he didn’t say a word.

“Do you mind?” she asked, setting a foot inside his house.

She cut her eyes at him before glancing at her watch. That was when Trent saw the stroller behind her. Ms. Uninvited set an infant carrier on the ground between them after stepping across the threshold.

“How did you get past the gate?”

“It was open when I got here.”

Trent peered around her because he knew he closed it.

“Earlier when the ambulance was here.”

“Ambulance?”

The woman just shrugged.

“Do I know you?”

“You don’t remember me?” Her angry scowl became masked from hurt.

“Why should I?”

“It’s been just over a year, but not that much has changed other than the child we share together.”

“Come again?” That’s when he saw an infant stirring beneath a blanket in the carrier. The plush pink and white covering did nothing to soften his discomfort.

What the hell?

“We met in Vegas the spring before last.”

“Okay?”

“And it’s about time you met the daughter we share as a result.”

“Look Miss… I don’t even know your name, so how do I have a daughter?”

Dark piercing eyes were now damp. “Trina.”

“Excuse me?”

She cleared her throat, jutted out her chin. “My name is Trina.”

Trent ran a hand over his head, refusing to glance at the child. As far as he knew, he wasn’t anyone’s father. What he needed to do was call the authorities to come escort this crazy lady from his property. “Trina, if this child is mine, why am I just hearing about it now? If this happened more than a year ago, that means your kid is what…two or three months?”

Trina rolled her eyes pointing to the carrier between them. “She turned six months yesterday and… I… I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know what?”

“I thought she was my husband’s. That was until the taping yesterday.”

If it didn’t prove him to be a complete ass, Trent would have laughed out loud. “Did you say your husband?”

Trina nodded. “It was the night of my bachelorette party in Vegas. We met and well, you… you gave me a night to remember.”

More like eighteen years, if what she was saying was true. But it’s not.

“Somehow word got back to my husband about that night and he got suspicious and suggested we go on the show to get the baby tested. Up until the wedding, we used condoms.”

Show?

“Maury.”

What the hell? Trent shook his head in disbelief and rolled his eyes. This woman was something else. And I always use condoms.

“It broke.”

Shit, Trent thought to himself, waiting for her to read his mind again. But if a condom did break, he would’ve remembered that major detail. Right? Unless it was thattrip to Vegas, the one he wanted to forget.

“He insisted we get London tested and that’s when Maury confirmed it this morning, you’re her…” Trina said. She stopped only to make sure she had Trent’s attention. She had it all right, but it was her quivering lip and shaky voice that puzzled him. “You’re London’s father.”

While everyone watched her live for the moment… she had to find a way to remember it.

I heard it all… I’m famous for being famous… that night was probably the best and worst thing to happen to me… I’m a fame whore… and lately the buzz is about my fifteen minutes being up.

My problem is that I don’t know if they’re right or not… I can’t remember.

What I can tell you is that my name is Chastity Ryan, but everyone insists on calling me Chase. And to my surprise, I have eight million followers. What am I doing with that many people listening to anything I have to say? The wiki facts about my life are out there and that’s all I have to tell me… that and thousands of updates, years worth of tweets and filtered images of a woman I barely even recognize, but she does look just like me. I guess I should be happy that I do have a breadcrumb trail on social media and the people around me to help me decipher its fleeting code…

Except I don’t know if I should trust them… and if that’s no one else’s fault but my own.

– Chase

Confirmed party girl Chase Ryan has it all… and she wants the world to know it. After making her way through all the hotspots and parties across town, Chase is used to waking up the morning after with no recollection of the night before. Until she wakes up one day with a thin memory about her entire life and all she can do is chase the moments she left behind hoping to figure out her own story.

Some of you, I know in the “real world” but sadly, others I only know in cyberspace. That makes it difficult for me to interface with folks who enjoyed my work (or didn’t) and who want to talk about it. But thank goodness for Facebook! It’s provided me the space to communicate directly with readers who not only give me feedback on my work, but great ideas about what I might write next.

After I wrote ‘Afterwards‘ and ‘Afterburn‘, my most well-received books to date, I heard from a lot of readers who were intrigued with a secondary character, Jamal Turner. The resident Casanova from those books, who “tapped more ass than Usher.” I never planned a book on Jamal, and was frankly a little perplexed about why folks found him that interesting. But as I re-read the parts of my book where he appeared, I too became intrigued and wondered more about him. And it was from that ‘wondering’ that ‘The Come Up’ was born.

So again, I have to thank my readers, not just for liking what I write, but for inspiring what I write. Jamal Turner’s story led to the development of two other characters, Makayla and Devin. Now I’ve heard from a few folks that they’d love to talk about them and that’s amazing. So, hosted by my good friend, writer, Tia Kelly, I will be participating in an online book chat this Sunday at 5PM EST, on Facebook.

If you have the time and the will, please join us by clicking here and RSVP-ing to the event. There will be polls, games, and giveaways, and of course, just good old-fashioned conversation about books. And if you haven’t yet read ‘The Come Up’, get your copy!

Jamal Turner is near the top of his game. Widely-known as the trusted right-hand man to music mogul Chris Scaife, he’s poised to become chief operating officer of his friend and mentor’s international recording conglomerate. But while his career prospects have never been better, Jamal is still plagued by the memories of his humble beginnings, threatening to pull him back down just as he’s on the come up.

Makayla Hughes knows who she is and where she comes from, and she flat out refuses to allow working in the high-powered recording industry to change her or her most closely-held friendships. But when she’s thrown into close quarters, working on a project with the notorious Jamal Turner, she begins to wonder whether her determination to ‘keep it real’ is also keeping her world very, very small.

Jamal is drawn to Makayla, but he can’t let the man he used to be stand in the way of the man he’s becoming. There’s no doubt she fits into the life Jamal used to have, but what’s not as clear is whether she belongs in the life he wants.